Alterations in the cellular genes which directly or indirectly control cell growth and differentiation are considered to be the main cause of cancer. The raf gene family includes three highly conserved genes termed A-, B- and c-raf (also called raf-1). Raf genes encode protein kinases that are thought to play important regulatory roles in signal transduction processes that regulate cell proliferation. Expression of the c-raf protein is believed to play a role in abnormal cell proliferation since it has been reported that 60% of all lung carcinoma cell lines express unusually high levels of c-raf mRNA and protein. Rapp et al., The Oncogene Handbook, E. P. Reddy, A. M Skalka and T. Curran, eds., Elsevier Science Publishers, New York, 1988, pp. 213-253.
Oligonucleotides have been employed as therapeutic moieties in the treatment of disease states in animals and man. For example, workers in the field have now identified antisense, triplex and other oligonucleotide compositions which are capable of modulating expression of genes implicated in viral, fungal and metabolic diseases.
As examples, U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,917, issued Aug. 4, 1992, provides antisense oligonucleotides that inhibit human interleukin-1 receptor expression. U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,890, issued Mar. 24, 1992 in the name of Gewirtz et al., is directed to antisense oligonucleotides complementary to the c-myb oncogene and antisense oligonucleotide therapies for certain cancerous conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,617, issued Feb. 11, 1992, provides methods for treating cancer patients with antisense oligonucleotides. U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,195 issued Nov. 24, 1992, provides oligonucleotide inhibitors of HIV. U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,810, issued Apr. 2, 1991, provides oligomers capable of hybridizing to herpes simplex virus Vmw65 mRNA and inhibiting replication. U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,428, issued Mar. 16, 1993, provides antisense oligonucleotides having antiviral activity against influenzavirus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,463, issued Feb. 21, 1989, provides antisense oligonucleotides and methods using them to inhibit HTLV-III replication. U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,717 (Cohen et al.), issued Feb. 15, 1994, is directed to a mixed linkage oligonucleotide phosphorothioates complementary to an oncogene; U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,019 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,423 (Cohen et al.) are directed to phosphorothioate oligonucleotide analogs used to prevent replication of foreign nucleic acids in cells. Antisense oligonucleotides have been safely administered to humans and clinical trials of several antisense oligonucleotide drugs, targeted both to viral and cellular gene products, are presently underway. The phosphorothioate oligonucleotide, ISIS 2922, has been shown to be effective against cytomegalovirus retinitis in AIDS patients. BioWorld Today, Apr. 29, 1994, p. 3. It is thus established that oligonucleotides can be useful therapeutic instrumentalities and can be configured to be useful in treatment regimes for treatment of cells and animal subjects, especially humans.
Antisense oligonucleotide inhibition of gene expression has proven to be a useful tool in understanding the roles of raf genes. An antisense oligonucleotide complementary to the first six codons of human c-raf has been used to demonstrate that the mitogenic response of T cells to interleukin-2 (IL-2) requires c-raf. Cells treated with the oligonucleotide showed a near-total loss of c-raf protein and a substantial reduction in proliferative response to IL-2. Riedel et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 1993, 23, 3146-3150. Rapp et al. have disclosed expression vectors containing a raf gene in an antisense orientation downstream of a promoter, and methods of inhibiting raf expression by expressing an antisense Raf gene or a mutated Raf gene in a cell. WO application 93/04170. An antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotide complementary to codons 1-6 of murine c-Raf has been used to abolish insulin stimulation of DNA synthesis in the rat hepatoma cell line H4IIE. Tornkvist et al., J. Biol. Chem. 1994, 269, 13919-13921. WO Application 93/06248 discloses methods for identifying an individual at increased risk of developing cancer and for determining a prognosis and proper treatment of patients afflicted with cancer comprising amplifying a region of the c-raf gene and analyzing it for evidence of mutation.
Denner et al. disclose antisense polynucleotides hybridizing to the gene for raf, and processes using them. WO 94/15645. Oligonucleotides hybridizing to human and rat raf sequences are disclosed.
Iversen et al. disclose heterotypic antisense oligonucleotides complementary to raf which are able to kill ras-activated cancer cells, and methods of killing raf-activated cancer cells. Numerous oligonucleotide sequences are disclosed, none of which are actually antisense oligonucleotide sequences.
There remains a long-felt need for improved compositions and methods for inhibiting raf gene expression.